As part of the national-level training within the Deep Green Inno project, our Albanian partners held their first workshop addressing the challenges of green 🌿 infrastructure in the context of Tirana, exploring alternative solutions and entrepreneurial capabilities in the industry. Under the guidance of architects Klodian Xhexhi and Julian Beqiri, the workshop enabled the students of Polis University to understand and confront the energy issues of transportation 🚇 for a green Tirana, where they gained an overview of the financial sustainability of PV panels and turbine wind solutions, and what gaps the current energy market contains for the introduction of new business models through innovations in current tech solutions.
These notions were enriched and expanded on through a site visit to the hydropower 🌊 plant located in the northwestern part of Albania, the first hydropower plant that was built on the Drini river at Vau i Dejës gorge, about 18 km from the city of Shkodra. An expert from the mechanical engineering department at the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and the head engineer of the hydropower plant presented the latest energy production technologies, following a historical analysis of their construction, the materials tested and used, and the current maximum production power of each of the components. The role of substations, the energy transmission and distribution network to the end consumer, as well as the management of energy surpluses in the network in direct connection with the Albanian energy market (stock exchange) were detailed, providing an overview of key players in the market and their entry to the market. Following these inputs, students were instructed to develop potential solutions for the Tirana region, situating green technologies in the energy sector within an entrepreneurial landscape. Taking into consideration the lack of electric and alternative public transportation, prototype solutions were presented envisioning a track for the Tram, in the entire south-north axis and independent of the existing energy supply network. The calculations were also based on their energy ⚡ consumption as well as the support (back-up) with renewable energy such as wind turbines or the energy produced by the photovoltaic panels according to the meteorological conditions of Tirana.
This was the powerful event to mark the start of the academic year 2023/2024 and Deep Green Inno gave its contribution to the quality of the education at the very start of it.